Third Generation Legacy
by PerenNial Ball-n-Chain
Summary: Three months after the titan war, a troubled eleventh grader discovers via an impromtu visit that he is a half-blood, like his father and grandmother before him. His life will only continue to become tougher as he discovers his place in the world.
1. Chapter 1

Okay everyone. This story is like Percy Jackson where it's told through the POV of the main character. I'm going to try to stick to the books (while adding in my own originality) as much as possible. Other characters (like Percy) will be appearing in this story as well.

There she was again. Some lady in my dreams that glowed with a white light. Everytime I came face to face with her though I would awake with a start. This morning was no different. Also, whenever I had those dreams someone stupid would try to start a fight with me at school. I prayed to God today was different.

Another day, another fight. Although in all fairness I had (somehow) gone a whole 36 hours without getting into a fight, and 8 days (I don't really feel like putting that into hours) before I got caught. My rotten luck was bound to catch up with me, though, as it always did. I trudged into our doublewide knowing that I was going to be "talked" to by my parents. Really it was just them patronizing me amd then grounding me, but I was used to it.

When I walked into the frontroom my two older brothers started snickering. I shot them one of my famous evil glares and that shut them right up. I grabbed a soda out of the refridgerator and walked as fast as I could to my room, but it was too late as my parents were right behind me following me to my room. I plopped down on my chair and turned on the computer when my parents appeared in the doorway.

My mom was first. She's white with a pointy face and light brown hair. Alot of people say we look alike but I don't see it. I think it's because out hair colors look alike, but mine's dark blond, with blond streaks going up certain parts of my hair. Although I do think when I was younger my face looked like hers, as I've gotten older it's strayed away from looking like hers. Oh, and my face is more chubby but I'm actually pretty skinny. Muscular, but skinny.

Then my dad appeared in the doorway. He's portugese (I think) and kinda short (5'7) but the height reminds me of a wolverine, small but deadly. He's got piercing eyes that always look like they're peering into your soul. He also has puffy eyebrows thst everybody always calls devil brows. But inspite of those features ( as well as another thousand that say don't pick a fight with him) alot of girls at my school say he looks handsome. I think I look more like him than I do my mom.

"Riley, your principle called us today" my mom said in the doorway. "I know" I said never taking my eyes off the computer moniter. "You can't keep getting yourself into fights like that. Eventually you'll get expelled." That was they're favorite word when they had these little talks with me. As if I cared. Some part of me wanted to get expelled, so I could go to another school that maybe wasn't populated with freaks with attitude problems.

"You know if this keeps up," my Mom continued "we'll have to send you to that military school." I rolled my eyes as hard as I could. I knew they didn't have the money to send me to military school, though if they did I had know doubt I would be having this little "discussion" with some drill sergeant right now. They went on and on but I just zoned them out. When they finally left the room I waited a few minutes then turned the computer off.

I did that because even though I didn't hear all of what they said, I was sure they grounded me from the computer. I texted my (only) friend Darrell and told him about what happend. Afterwards I texted him I was gonna go to the park to which he hastily insisted upon coming. I wanted to be alone but I also didn't want to be rude either so I said okay.

We got to the park at exactly five. There was some guys in the basketball court, so our plans of playing basketball were shot out of the water, but as I was about to leave I heard one of the guys calling me names. Now usually I wouldn't mind. I mean I've been in anger management since the sixth grade ( I've just started the eleventh grade so that's a long time) but between school and my parents, I felt I had put up with enough crap for one day.

Darrell followed me constantly telling me to just get in the car and drive away. There was about 4 guys ranging from my age to about 22, but the one that had been antagonizing me was about 19 and looked to be they're unofficial leader.

He didn't do or say anything, just sneered at me. My eyes met his and for a brief moment fear entered his eyes. He voice was shaky as he said let's go before walking off. "Not cool" Darrell said not taking eyes away from them until they left. Darrell was a real fraidy cat. He was African American with a shaved head that had a whirlpool design (he thought he looked cool) and a pencil thin beard connecting to a scruffy looking goatee. He was about 6'1 with an athletic build.

"I honestly don't know why you're always acting so affraid" I said to him. I really didn't understand. You see I met him back in 9th grade when I went to anger managment. Apparantly he got into a lot of fights himself so, with that golden logic plus the fact we went to thee same school, we became friends.

Unlike me though random fights didn't just pop-up out of nowhere for him, and even when they did alotta times he would take a beating. Other times however it was like watching a different person, like a green beret in a warzone. I myself had doubts if I could beat him in a serious fight. And I don't doubt myself to often.

Darrell rolled his eyes like he always did and started shoot hoops. He had done this so many times before, it was like his silent way of saying this conversation is over. As it turned out we didn't even get to play basketball for very long before those creeps from earlier showed back up. Darrell looked uneasy so I grabbed the basketball and said "Let's go home."

When I walked though the doorway I smelled the aroma of tacos, but I wasn't in the mood to eat right now. I still had school work, so I decided to do that instead of hing around the glare that my family was going to be giving me if stayed in the front room to watch T.V. As I expected the computer wire was out. Big mistake leaving the computer in my room, because I had a backup for moments like this.

For Mythology (my favorite subject) I had to write a brand new story about a demigod. Our teacher Mr. Cyprus liked originality, so instead of Heracles, like everybody else would be writing about, I decided on Thesius, or as I liked to call him quite simply, the Minotaur Dude. I went to Wikipedia to look for information about who he was. After all I didn't want to put Thesius in an all-out battle against Medusa when they've never even met.

I was doing well. I decided to put Thesius in a battle with Minos, in a tale of revenge. Minos was also a demigod so I was going to give him some super cool ghost god powers with an ancient Excaliber esque sword. Me mixing up the mythology like that would put a smile on Cyprus' face, and give me an A. But then on accident I saw Greek letters. I don't know why but trying to read ancient Greek always gave me a headache. But never from a glance? That's never happened before.

It was now 8 at night ( roughly two hours since my tryst with Greek letters) and was finally over the headache. I even managed to get my dinner without my parents trying to explain things to me like it's for your own good and we just don't want to see you get hurt. You know, the usual parent stuff. As I bit into my second crispy taco a wave of dread washed over me. For a scary second I felt like crawling underneath a blanket and hiding. But as soon as it passed sommeone knocked at the door.

My brothers both ran in the opposite direction. I sighed. "Figures" I said aloud as I got up to answer the door. When I answered a man stood their in a tiger striped Hawiin shirt with bermuda shorts. The guy looked like he was about to go golfing or something. "Is this the Y'barbo residence?" he asked in a tired (maybe it was bored) voice. The odd thing was he pronouce my last name with the y pronounced as an e an the r rolled. Most people (and by that I mean all people) pronouce the y or just botch the name completely, which has happened more than a thousand times.

He stepped in and for some reason I simply stepped aside. This mystery man looked over at my father and said "Yes! I knew I wasn't wrong." He walked into the living room mumbling something about Araidne needing her eyes checked. Part of me wanted to ask a million questions, but the one that came out was You two know each other? It wasn't even in the top ten of questions I needed answering.

This old fart sat on the couch and motioned for everyone to sit. Who did he think he was, just coming into our house and ordering everyone around. My anger rose and the fear faded. Somehow this man no longer had power over me, but when I looked over I noticed my parents had sat down, so I did the same.

"Look, he said it's rather rare of me to even consider making a house call, much less actually going through with it. But, it seems your father believes you to be too powerful to live in the outside world for any much longer. You're untrained, unprepared. You, my son, need to be taught proper education, and for people like you that's Camp Half-Blood. I didn't pick that awful name, and nor can I even stand the place, however it does give great results."

The old coot may as well been speaking like an adult from Charlie Brown, because all I heard after Camp Half-Blood was dead silence. My parents had finally done it. Even though they were both struggling they had somehow found a way to send me to military school. But, wait a minute. That didn't explain why my mom didn't know who this gas bag was either. It kinda seemed like to me my dad and this dude were sharing an inside joke. Plus my dad didn't act like my mom or I when he first showed up. It looked like he was used to being around this old timer.

"So what you're trying to say," I said" is that I'm going to some military school." That's when the old man burst out laughing. "If only, he said No no the way they train you there is like special forces training time ten. No my boy, what I'm trying to say is this. You, are a half blood."

Okay, so their was chapter one. Chapter two is when it will start to pick up.


	2. The Tour

As if this day couldn't get any weirder, here I was in a car with the God of Wine, headed to a camp for god children. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't at all shocked to hear I was a little different from regular humans. Now that I think about it however, that just goes to show how full of myself I really am. Oh, but none of that was weird. What was weird was that my parents acted like it was no big deal.

Flashback

...

"This is a joke, right" I said looking at both of my parents and the Hawaiian shirt dude. My mom shook her head." A few years ago," she began in an even voice "I was working at an orphanage, when I was asked to check on the babies." My mom wasn't necessarily looking at me when she was talking, more like talking to someone a mile behind me.

After about thirty seconds, she continued. "They had asked me to look after the babies, because I was the only one who knew anything about caring after infants. It was supposed to be a routine check up, but then I saw that you were sweating. When I checked your forehead, I discovered you had a fever. It was only a minor cold, and it only lasted two days, but after that time spent taking care of you, I'd grown attached to you."

"I thought I might have some problems adopting you, because of the fact that I had taken care of you, but I was surprised that they were practically shoving you into my arms."

She looked me in the eyes now. "I didn't even find out that you were a demigod until you were five," She said. "It had all happened when we were divorced for a year." "You being a demigod is the whole reason we put so much pressure on you," my dad said. "In order for any powerful half-blood to survive, they must train up at camp."

The hawain shirt guy put his hand on my shoulder, but removed it just as quickly. "That's odd", the man said. "What?" my dad asked the man. "Well, it would seem your boy here doesn't have an ounce of Greek in his blood", the man said looking at me as if I were unnatural. I would usually be asking a million questions right now, or at least thinking them. My head still hurt from the headache though, and this situation wasn't exactly helping.

"So, what doesn't he have", my mom asked. :Well, for starters he doesn't have ADHD, nor is he Dyslexic:, the man said still looking at me. :Say junior, have you tried to read Greek before?: the man asked me. :No:, I said looking at him with a look that said 'what kind of a question is that'. "It does give me a headache everytime I even glace at Greek writing though."

"That's peculiar", the man said. He looked at my mom and dad before looking back at me. "While I find it doughtful that you're a strong half-blood, you are a half-blood, I am required to offer you a place at camp. The decision is yours whether or not to come to camp, but you will have to make it a fast one as I have other things to do."

I wanted to decline the offer, but I saw the looks in my parents eyes and realized that I was apparently better off there. Still, every fiber of my being told me not too, because I had a crappy life pretty much. I mean it might seem okay from the outside looking in, but from my shoes it didn't hold a candle to paradise. I had fantisised about leaving several times, but it was the easy way out, and I never took the easy way out. But, this felt like if I stayed, then it would be the easy way out.

"Alright", I said to the man. "Well, how exciting", the man said with more than a hint of sarcasm. He then pulled out a paper that looked suspiciously like a contract and set it on the table. He then handed me a tiger patterned pen to write with. I examined the paper, but found nothing that could bind me to and obligation. For some reason I actually believed this was all true. Most likely this was because my parents hardley joked, and when they did it was delivered poorly.

Anyhow, all the paper said was that I represented Olympus, and that everthing I did was in the name of the gods and my god parent, whomever that might be. When I went to write my name I realized that I was hoping their to be something sinister about the contract that might make me back out, but alas nothing. I wrote my name as slowly as possible for some reason, and I guessed hawain shirt guy noticed because he started taping his foot.

"Very well then, you are all done", the man said as he rolled up the paper. "And now I, Dionysus, God of Wine bless this in the name of the gods", the man said sarcasticly. "Wait, Dionysus. As in the wine dude?" I asked the man. He looked angry, but instead heaved a giant sigh. I thought I heard something about the name running in the family.

...

Pretty much that's all the important stuff they had said, but the thing that weirded me out the most was that the God of Wine was a total buzz-kill. I mean it's in his title to be festive and outgoing, but the old fart wouldn't even let me turn on the radio.

"Soo, who was it that called you to pick me up," I asked the Wine Dude, trying to start up a conversation. "It was your friend Darrell. The brat has known that he's a half-blood since the 9th grade. Because we have always known of your existence, and because we knew you two were friends, we asked him to keep tabs on you, and to inform us when you were ready."

See, now that was officially the weirdest thing I've heard all day. There was no way Darrell was a half-blood. The dude was too reserved ,and scrawny (he only weighed 139 Ibs) to be an elite monster killer. I tried picturing him with a shield and sword, but the only image that popped up was of him toppling over from the weight. "We're here." the Wine Dude said with even more contempt then I though was possible.

Stepping out of the car, the first thing I see on top of a hill was a dragon. "Whoa, you guys got a dragon guarding the entrance!" I said excitedly. "You can see that it's a dragon," he said looking at me. "Of course" I said. "Anyone can tell that it's a dragon, so why do you have it out in the open."

"It's because of the mi- oh never mind," he said with exhaustion. Wow, this dude was lazy. "You are a peculiar case," he said as he started up the hill. "A half-blood that doesn't have ADHD, gets headaches from reading Greek, and now isn't even affected by the Mist." I had no idea what he was saying, and frankly Wine Dude annoyed me too much to even ask.

When we got to the entrance, I sped past the dragon. I had been around enough guard dogs to know not to get too close to one. "I understand where you're coming from, dragons are not my forte either," he said walking past the dragon. The dragon made something of a grunt, which I'm sure was something along the lines of get bent in dragon talk.

Once inside the camp, I was amazed at all the different looking exercises. I saw a couple of satyrs playing their reed the meadows. There were people who were dressed in burnt armor coming out of the forest. Something inside me stirred with anticipation to fight my first monster, for what reasons I don't know why. I saw Darrell come out of a cabin with seven other kids. One of the kids (couldn't have been more than 11) whispered something in Darrell's ear. Darrell looked up at me and nodded his head."Hey!" the boy said to me "Is your last name really Y'barbo." I felt confused, but nodded my head none the less. "Cool," he said.

They all went into the forest, as if to vanquish the mighty beast that had defeated those other kids. "Well, guide number one is out," he said. "I suppose it is within my abilities to give you a tour personally." "NO!" I said quickly. "What I mean is," I continued "There's got to be someone else capable of giving me a tour. I mean your a God. You've got important business to attend to." I was laying it on pretty strong, especially considering the feeling I got was he didn't do anything more than sit down and watch T.V all day.

However, I didn't want captain bore to make my first impressions of this place seem as boring as he was.

I was afraid he hadn't believed me, because he just stared off into space, and I wasn't exactly a good suck-up. But he looked at me and said "You are absolutely correctThe dude was too lazy to even realize anything suspicious. A girl walked out of an amphitheater, yelling something back at another girl. When Wine Dude saw here walk past, he immediately ran up to her and asked her something. Wine Dude was in the way, but I could feel her eyes looking at me. She said something and he said "Good good. Well, I'm off he said."

When he walked away, it was the first look I got at this girl. She was 5'8, white, with dark tanned skin. She wore alot of makeup, but put it on expertly enough so it looked like she only had a little on. Her long black hair was tied up in a pony-tail, and when I saw her face I lost all comprehension of words. In all sense of the word 'knockout'. When she walked up to me I barely uttered a "Hi." "Mr. D says your new to all of this," she said looking me up and down. I was muscular, but even I knew I didn't exactly look like a person who'd fought monsters all their life.

"So, what's your name," she said still looking at me skeptically. I was seriously feeling sized up right now, and it didn't help that my vocabulary was reduced to uhhhh. Somehow I found a way to tell here my name. When she heard my last name her entire head perked up. Frankly, it looked painful. "And yours" I asked looking at the satyrs. It helped when I did that. "Silena Beauregard" she said snapping out of her trance.

...

We spent 30 minutes looking at all the cabins. She asked me if any of them 'spoke' to me. None did, however. "It's okay" she said "A lot of half-bloods don't fell anything from the cabins. Do you have any idea who it might be" she asked. I shook my head. "All I know is that it's a Goddess." "Well, of course," she said, walking past me. "Why does everybody act like they know my last name," I asked as I caught back up to her.

"It's because your father's a legendary demigod," she said as if it were nothing. I, on the other hand, was confused. First I find out I'm a demigod, next I find out it runs in the family. "So, what does that make me, a second gen demigod," I asked. "More like third," she said. "Your grandma was the daughter of Dionysus. Usually, that makes you just strong enough for monsters to catch your scent, but too weak to actually fight. Not her, though. She plowed through monster after monster, and was even a prophesy child" she said.

The prophesy child thing confused me, and she must have sensed it, because she followed up with "A demigod who's the main character in a Great Prophesy." The feeling I was getting was a messiah of sorts. "Anyways," she continued "your father had great expectations" she said looking into my eyes. "He was the son of Ares, but he didn't get any of the cool stuff his mom got, not even a prophesy, but he still carved the biggest legend since Heracles", she said.

There was so many things I wanted to ask, but the question that came out was "Isn't their a law against Gods having relations with demigods". She thought it over, like she was choosing her words carefully. After about 45 seconds she spoke "Yes, but it has been broken a couple of times in the past. Actually, it should be no surprise that your dad was so powerful, considering that the child of a god and demigod always comes out powerful she said."


	3. CTF

Well, It's been over a year now since I've updated this story (I've had classes) and, since I've now got an easier schedule, decided to post the new chapter that's been sixteen months in the making (Literally.) Enjoy!

After my tour was over, Silena said I should visit ''The Big House'' and talk to Chiron. I didn't look for any gigantic mansion; I simply went to the house that looked most important.

Looking up at it, I didn't see why they called it 'The Big House', because there was at least three other houses bigger than it. When I walked in I found Dionysus playing cards with a centaur.

Normally, I would've stared for at least five minutes, but after being told I was a demigod, nothing could surprise me. Or, maybe it was because I still thought this was a dream.

When I walked closer, the centaur noticed my presence and sat down his hand. "Ah, so I see the tour is over then", he said while walking towards me. He was over seven feet tall, with his puffy hair tied in a ponytail.

"Yes sir", I said awkwardly. I still wasn't entirely sure how to talk to mythical beings. I shifted my feet nervously, but he was too busy hitting his ears. "Sorry lad, my hearing hasn't been too good since I went to a family reunion."

"I'm Chiron", he said extending his hand. "Riley", I said shaking his hand. And I'm sure you've already met Mr. D, he said pointing a finger at Dionysus. Before I could answer, Mr. D broke in.

"Well of course he has, I was sent to pick him up after all," the god said with a huff. Chiron led me outside, near the edge of the forest. "Dionysus doesn't always do as he's told," Chiron said after we stopped walking. "Usually, he sends a couple satyrs to do his chores."

"Now, I'm sure Silena told you about this forest?" "Yeah," I said to Chiron. "Well then, I'm sure you know that you shouldn't go into this forest alone at your current level," Chiron said.

"Nevertheless, in spite of you having no prior demigod training, you'll be competing in a capture the flag game tonight," Chiron said, shifting his feet nervously. Or maybe that was just a centaur's way of pacing.

"Sounds cool," I said while looking into the forest. I wondered what kind of monsters would be in there. I've never fought a monster before, but my dad taught me how to hunt and fight, so I didn't think I was at a complete disadvantage.

"Yes, well then, I'll get Skyler and have him give you a weapon," Chiron said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

…

Chiron led me to the Hephaestus cabin, which looked bigger than all of the other cabins by 2-3 times. After Chiron walked away, Skyler led me down into an underground basement.

"So, what type of weapon am I going to get?" I asked looking at all of the different weapons. Some were on walls, some were in glass cases, but most were in piles on the ground.

"That's up to you," Skyler said while pulling on a light switch. I was almost blinded by all the light reflecting off the steel and bronze. "Is this a handgun?" I asked picking up a weapon in one of the piles.

"Yeah, only it shoots Bronze bullets instead," Skyler said while moving around some of the piles. I decided to look around for another weapon. It wasn't that I was a bad shot (because I was a great shot) it just didn't seem practical to have a weapon that was limited to special bullets.

There weren't a lot of guns, but there was at least one copy of every gun model, from a handgun, to a bazooka. It made me wonder why someone would make some of these weapons.

I looked through every pile, but found nothing of interest. Just as I was about to settle on a shotgun (it was more out of novelty) a silvery object caught my glance. "What's that?" I asked Skyler, pointing to the object on the wall. It had a cylindrical, with holes in it.

He looked up from searching through the piles to see what I was pointing to. "Oh, that? That's a Lightsaber," he said as if it was no big deal. I figured it wasn't like the Star Wars version, but I still went over to check it out anyways.

The holes, I realized were buttons, all of them black. I cringed to think who had it last, because it was pretty banged up. When Skyler saw me fiddling with it, he came over quickly to where I was at.

"That weapon's even more advanced than the shotgun you have there," he said while jogging over to me, all the while dodging piles of weapons. "How so?" I asked.

"Well, you need magic to power it," he said. "But, it looks high-tech, why involve magic?" I asked him while looking at the Lightsaber. "Well, even for Hephaestus kids, some things are too advanced," he said, looking at the Lightsaber. "So, the original creator decided to use magic."

"How hard is that? I asked to use magic?" "Well, everybody has some magic in them, but very few have enough to cast spells," he said. "Apollo kids have the most amount of magic in them, bar none."

I flicked the switch, and a green blade materialized, but quickly dissipated. "Looks like I don't have enough," I said looking up, but he had a look of bewilderment on his face. "What?" I asked.

"I-I was just about to say that you need to channel your magic before hitting the button," he said. "That was amazing! Not even our best Apollo camper can do that." "What caused it to poot out?" I asked.

"Just doing that was unbelievable," he said looking at me like I was super human. It kinda freaked me out, so I took a step back." I'll need to repair it," he said holding out his hand. I handed the Saber to him, and went to set the shotgun back down.

"You can keep that," he said while moving back towards the stairs. "It's just taking up space. Your game's at eight tonight, so I'll get right to work on this." He picked up a small box and handed it to me. "Shells," he said.

When I walked out of the cabin, I saw that Chiron was waiting for me. When he saw me lugging around the shotgun (it weighed about sixty pounds) he chuckled. "I might've taken your father as the ballistics type, but not you," he said with a smile on his face.

"Its okay, but I decided on the Lightsaber," I said. "Ah, a chip off the old block, eh. You know, your father had a weapon with the same amount of nightmarish difficulty," he said while looking down at me.

"He called it Tri-biter, because it was three weapons in one. The name inspired another weapon. Its name was a double meaning, but ended up with the same definition." I didn't get what he meant by that. or even what he was talking about.

"So how did it get damaged," I asked. "A half-blood before you used that weapon in the Titan War, but didn't know how to use it properly and ended up falling in battle as a result," he said looking at me.

"Your game's at eight sharp, don't be late. Dinner is in thirty minutes at the dinning pavilion," he said walking off. "But I already ate dinner," I yelled. Even though he was only walking (I guess. I can't really tell) Chiron was already halfway across the field.

He stopped and turned around to look at me. "Although it would behoove you to eat on your first night here, you won't be able to because of the game." He winced when he said game.

"Then why am I supposed to go?" I asked. It was a legitimate question. "To mingle," he said.

It was pointless going to the dining pavilion or 'mess hall' as the other campers had called it.

That was pretty much all that I had picked up sitting there in my chair for thirty minutes. Although I had been assigned to the Hermes cabin, tonight for some reason I sat with Chiron and Dionysus.

The only one eating at the table was a 14 year old boy, but he kept getting up and talking with other campers (he didn't sit down at the other tables though, as Chiron said that was forbidden.)

When the clock struck 7:30 I rushed out of the cafeteria (which is what it essentially was, complete with cliques.) No one was in the Hermes cabin, so it gave me some time to get ready without someone pulling a prank on me every three seconds.

I decided it was probably best to show up at the edge of the forest at 7:45. Just as I was opening the door, Skyler ran up to me. "Here," he said handing me a box.

The box was made out of blue and white diamonds that didn't reflect light. When I opened the box, a bright white light filled the room. The light was incredibly blinding, so I closed the box just as quickly as I had opened it.

"What's the box for?" I asked after wiping my eyes. "It's a charging station of sorts," he said about to walk of the door. "Why does this thing need charging? I thought it ran off of magic?" I asked.

"It does, but I modified it a bit. You need some training in how to control your magic before you can use it in a full scale battle," he said before stopping in the doorway.

"That's where the modifications come in. Now it can also run off electricity." "But, I thought you said this thing was too advanced to run off electricity?" I asked.

"It is and it isn't. Three hundred years ago when it was created it was too high-tech, but nowadays you can at least make it to where it can use electricity as a second option. It's not going to be nearly as powerful without magic though," he said while opening the door.

"Good luck," he said walking out the door. I tucked the box in my hoodies pocket and walked toward the forest. It took me about five minutes to reach the spot I was told to go to.

As I walked up to the edge of the forest, I noticed Silena, Darrell, and about 13 other campers arguing over something, while Chiron was trying to break up the argument. When I walked up, everyone stopped and looked at Chiron expectantly.

"Most of you know the rules, but for those of you who don't I will now explain," he began. "Two teams of eight will compete to obtain the opposing sides flag. The rules are the same as traditional capture the flag, but physical combat is allowed. Those who kill, maim, or seriously injure will face consequences."

"I will be the referee of this game since Mr. D has other matters to attend to. Each side is separated by the creek bed, otherwise known as the neutral zone. This is the area where one can no longer place troops in pre game strategizing."

"You have fifteen minutes to set up your strategy before a horn goes off. That horns sound indicates the start of the game. When the horn goes off again, that will indicate the end of the game. With the rules explained I bid you all good luck."

"The two teams are Kiss of Death, led by Silena Beauregard, and War Cry, led by Darrell Hamilton. The two newcomers, Riley and Mikey, will be on Ms Beauregard's team. Does everyone understand the rules?"

A couple on the War Cry team grunted, which Chiron seemed to take as a yes. "Well then," Chiron said looking at both teams "You may begin!"

Every camper (myself excluded) picked up a duffel bag that was lying behind them and ran in opposite directions. When we got to a clearing, everyone set their bags down and pulled out what appeared to be armor and a helmet.

"Here," Silena said handing me a balled up piece of what appeared to be chain mail. The armor was two sizes too small, so I was going to have to take off my hoodie and Hanes T-shirt.

I went behind a bush (because frankly I didn't feel comfortable undressing in front of seven people I really didn't even know) and put on the chain mail. The first thing I noticed was the weight. It had to be at least fifty pounds. The second thing I noticed was the fact that when you put on the chain mail (mine was like a shirt. Not sure if all are like that) you could see the spots where it had been damaged and repaired.

I decided to ignore the former for the time being, but the latter was a constant anvil on my body. To make matters worse my arms were covered up from my shoulders to the back of my hands. What this meant was that I was going to look like a stiff board because of this undersized piece of armor that not even a three year old could fit into.

When I walked back out from behind the bushes (with my hoodie back on) Silena was giving assignments to the other campers. When I walked up, Silena said "You'll be following me. "

When she noticed my stiff walking she said "Too undersized?" "Yes, and too heavy," I said annoyed.

"I didn't know what size to get you, so I got a small, and your armor's only five pounds heavier than everyone else's." That was impossible, plain and simple. That kid Mikey was a four-foot six twelve year old, and couldn't have been no more than eighty pounds, but was walking around like nothing. "No way," I thought to myself.

"By the way," I began; "I don't know the rules to Capture the Flag outside of Call of Duty games."

"It's pretty much the same rules. Incapacitate anyone that gets in your way, get the flag, and bring it back. Oh, and don't die." The way she said that last part made me realize the whole No killing, maiming, or causing serious injury rule was a joke.

In the distance a loud conch shell went off, signaling the start of the game. The moon was already high in the sky, which made a chill run down my spine. I hated night time warfare (as my dad called it) because I didn't exactly have great night vision.

Silena slapped me on my back, breaking me of my thoughts. "Let's go," she said, already running down a path way. To my credit, with fifty pounds of armor on, I ran at a pretty fast speed, but Silena was always a good twenty-five feet ahead of me.

After about fifteen minutes of running, we came across a clearing similar to ours. The only difference was ours was surrounded by trees, while this one by rock formations. There was a giant elm tree in the middle of the clearing, with a red flag positioned right in front of it.

We hid behind a tree seventy feet from the clearing, and Silena pulled out a pair of binoculars. Meanwhile, I was too busy wiping the immense amount of sweat off my face that had accumulated from running two miles in such a short amount of time.

"Doesn't appear to be anyone guarding it," she said while putting the binoculars back up. "Darrell's leading this team, right?" I asked. "Yeah," she said. "Then there are at least four people around the flag," I said while visually scanning the clearing.

"What makes you say that?" She asked. "The dude uses the same strategy for video games. He sends half his group to obtain the flag, while he and the other half stay behind to defend," I said matter-of-factly.

"Soooo, where would he be hiding at?" She asked. I pointed to the tree, "Two are in the tree." I then pointed to one of the rock formations," One there. And finally, one there," I said pointing to a bush.

"You sure?" She asked. "Of course," I said.

"Alright then, I go in to get the flag, and when they come out, you sneak attack them," she said while pulling a pin from her hair. In an instant, the hair pin transformed into a battle axe, a sight that caused me jump ten feet back wards, or at least I would've if it hadn't been for this armor I was wearing.

She walked out of hiding and went towards the clearing all nonchalant, like it was normal to be carrying a three-foot battle axe and be ambushed by four people.

No one came out until she actually picked up the flag, at which point Darrell and a chick that looked scarier than Silena's battle axe jumped out of the tree, weapons already drawn.

Silena still had that cool look on her face, only now there was a hint of fear in her eyes, and I knew why. Now not only was she carrying here comically oversized axe, but also the flag and she couldn't let either go.

I wanted to begin a sneak attack, but it was still too early. They were ready for something else (even if they didn't know what that "else" was)

"Two against one, you insult me Clarisse," Silena said. "Don't hype yourself up as better than you actually are," Clarisse said.

The other two opposing campers came out of hiding and joined Darrell and Clarisse. For a brief second I saw an electrical current form at the tip of Clarisse's spear, before she jabbed it at Silena.

Silena dodged the strike and immediately swung her axe, but Clarisse ducked her body, and jabbed with her spear. It connected right in Silena's abdomen. A spark of red electricity flashed, and then Silena's flying backward a good twenty feet.

"Crap," I thought to myself. There were two options I had at the moment. I could make a mad dash and grab the flag from Silena's hand and run like hell (the less honorable path, but the most militaristic) or I could try my hand at a four-on-one handicap match.

Deciding there was no other option but to step in, I took off my hoodie, followed by my armor (which was a pain since my sweat glued it to my skin.) After catching my breath, I bent down and pulled out the diamond box that housed my Lightsaber. When I opened the box, the light wasn't quite as bright as before, but I still had to turn my head away.

I quickly ran out into the open, which was a mistake since the other two campers (whose names I didn't at present know) jumped in front of me and tried to strike with their swords.

I dodged both strikes with the grace that can only come from years of training. Before they could launch a second attack, I grabbed the one on the right and threw him to the ground.

When the other prepared for a strike, I punched him on the right side of his jaw, causing him to knock out instantly. When the other one got up, I threw a roundhouse kick and connected with the side of his face. Maybe it was against the rules to throw punches and kicks, but I was working on the logic that it wasn't any worse that trying to impale someone with a sword or get shish-kebabed by an electric spear.

Clarisse's face was twisted in a snarl as she walked over to me. I looked over at Darrell and expected him to be walking over as well, but he was calmly leaning against the tree with a smirk on his face. His reaction to the situation was downright sending a shiver down my spine, as he only used that look when he was absolutely confident about something.

Clarisse's spear charged again with electricity, and the smell of burnt paper filled my nostrils, almost causing me to gag. She charged with a quickness that made my previous two opponents look like snails. Before I could put up a defense, her spear connected with my ribs on my right-hand side, and just like Silena I too flew backwards.

I don't know how, but I was able to get up immediately afterward. I felt power flowing through me, and I realized that her spear had went clean through my ribs and that the electricity had numbed out a portion of my body. But the power was rejuvenating me, and all of the numbness except for the spot on my ribs faded.

With the flip of a switch the metallic green blade of my Lightsaber came into view. I don't know what she was more surprised at: my sudden recovery or my Saber. Either way she sobered up quickly and charged with the same speed she had used before.

There was a difference though. Now I could see her with even more clarity than I could the other two guys. I dodged her strike and swung as hard as I could at her chest. The result was an "Ooph" from her as it connected.

I realized that I didn't want to cut her in half (in spite of having a gaping hole in my ribs currently) which must've been why my Lightsaber only hit like a supped up baseball bat.

I expected Darrell to cower at my previous display, I mean the guy was excessively timid, but instead he touched his gold chain on his neck, and a katana with a hazel colored blade materialized in his right hand.

He still had that smirk on his face as he took a couple steps towards me. "Why the smirk?" I asked.

"You got lucky against Clarisse, but that won't happen to me," he said.

"Oh and why is that?" I asked.

"I was just given the title of level two swordsmen," he said. I gave him a look that said why am I supposed to give a crap about that. "What that means is, I'm officially a master, and in your case, lightning has never struck twice."

My energy that I had against Clarisse was tapped out, but I knew I could still take Darrell. "You say you just became at master, at the age of sixteen. Am I correct?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"My point is there's a reason my parents didn't worry about me not coming to this boot camp for several years, and that reason is that my dad's trained me in every single aspect of fighting since birth. In short, I'm a war machine," I said with a smirk on my face.

"Again, I ask what your point is?" He asked with obvious annoyance in his voice.

"The point is that what you just becoming a sword master is something I've been since I was ten," I said. I could feel some of that power again, but it wasn't a lot. I didn't need a lot from what my previous two battles showed me.

Darrell charged and swung his sword at my neck, but I (somehow) managed to duck out of the way. "Are you crazy? You could've killed me! I said while getting back to my feet (as I had buckled during the duck.)

He showed that same smirk on his face as before, and I realized that he wasn't coming at me with his full power. He was toying with me, and that pissed me off. I charged at him in much the same manner as he had, and sure enough he managed to duck as well. There was a difference though, and that was that he didn't trip, and performed a sweep with his sword right at my knees.

I jumped to avoid it, and swung my Saber down in an arc pattern. He moved to the left to dodge it, but I used his previous sweep strategy on him. He managed to block the blow, but unfortunately it was with his left wrist.

Because I wasn't trying to severe his hand, the Saber merely billy clubbed his wrist. "AHH!" he yelled. The strike didn't cut his hand at all, but it ripped through the armor on his wrist like a knife through butter.

He let his arm dangle to his side, and lifted hid katana with his right arm. Because I was feeling generous (and EXTREMLY cocky) at the moment, I decided to put my left arm behind my back. "Only seems fair," I smirked.

The look in his eyes turned murderous, and he came at me three times faster than before. We dueled for about fifteen seconds before we separated to catch our breath. It had only been just over a minute since I came out from behind the tree, but I still decided to check on how Silena was doing.

Imagine my surprise that she was nowhere in sight, and neither was the flag. I don't know when she had done it, but she had bailed without a sound. I looked back over at Darrell expecting him to go running off down the clearing, but much to my surprise he still had that same look in his eyes.

He hadn't noticed her disappearance, which meant the only thing to do was make my own escape. He charged at me again, but this time I met him halfway. Three seconds into our second duel, I saw an opening and kicked as hard as I could at his abdomen

He was falling backwards, when I turned around and ran as fast as I could down the clearing. When I was eighty feet down the trail, Silena jumped down from a tree and started running alongside me.

I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask, but decided they were better suited for another time. I kept looking over my shoulder expecting Darrell, or that battle axe Clarisse to be right on our heels, but after running for only forty-eight seconds we were back at our flag.

The next chapy probably won't be as long, but should be up in a couple days. R&R


End file.
